Razorbacks report

Lunney, Orgeron familiar

Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. throws a football during warmups prior to the Razorbacks' game against LSU on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. throws a football during warmups prior to the Razorbacks' game against LSU on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Barry Lunney Jr. and Ed Orgeron share something in common other than leading the Arkansas Razorbacks and No. 1 LSU Tigers, respectively, who will meet on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge.

They have both had "interim head coach" attached to their names at high-profile schools.

Lunney, a former University of Arkansas quarterback, will make his debut as the interim coach for the Razorbacks on Saturday.

Orgeron, who led Ole Miss to a 10-25 record in three seasons (2005-07), was interim coach at both USC (2013) and LSU (2016) and led both programs to 6-2 records in those stints.

Orgeron wanted to assume the full-time head coaching duties at USC after finishing up for Lane Kiffin in 2013, but he did not get the gig.

After a year out of coaching in 2014, Orgeron resurfaced as LSU's defensive line coach in 2015. When Coach Les Miles was fired early in 2016 after an 18-13 loss to Auburn, Orgeron got his second chance as a full-time head coach.

The Tigers have gone 9-4, 10-3 and 10-0 under his direction.

Lunney said he talked with Orgeron when Coach Bret Bielema brought him in to meet with the staff in 2014 for a few days. Orgeron also spoke to the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club during that visit.

"He was here for a few days, and Bret had brought him because he wanted to watch practice and be around a little bit," Lunney said Monday. "I had a brief conversation with him a couple of times. I don't know if he would remember that.

"Obviously, he's somebody that I've watched from afar. ... One of the things that I've seen since I've been here going on my seventh year, it was very clear when he took over that team at LSU during the middle of the year, it didn't take long for him to put his fingerprint on that football team."

Yurachek writes

Arkansas Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek posted an update on the athletic department's website Thursday, encouraging Arkansas fans to support the football team for Saturday's game at LSU and the season finale next Friday in Little Rock against Missouri.

In the update, Yurachek wrote, "Let's help fill War Memorial Stadium to cheer on this team and these players as they compete in the Battle Line Rivalry.

"A search for our next head football coach is well underway. As I have shared previously, I firmly believe that we will find a quality leader for our football team. The Razorback Football program has much to offer -- including substantial financial support, tremendous facilities, an outstanding academic institution, great history and tradition, competing in the nation's best conference and a passionate fan base.

"In my continued efforts to identify our next head coach, just as I did in our recent men's basketball search, I will work to maintain confidentiality in the process. I understand that because of the great interest in our search, there will continue to be an abundance of speculation. I appreciate your patience and understanding as I focus on the important task at hand."

Captain Limpert

Senior kicker Connor Limpert will serve as a game captain for the Razorbacks on Saturday at LSU. He'll join permanent defensive captains McTelvin Agim, De'Jon Harris and T.J. Smith.

Earlier in the week, interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. had referenced Limpert as being a "steady Eddie" for the Razorbacks.

"We made steady Eddie our fourth captain to complement those other three," Lunney said.

Turner talk

Barry Lunney Jr. said he's tried to visualize how he'll handle making decisions in his head coaching debut Saturday at Tiger Stadium, and he's sought guidance from his father and members of the Arkansas staff, such as Turner Gill, the first-year director of student-athlete and staff development who has been a head coach at Kansas, Buffalo and Liberty.

"I had a good meeting with Turner Gill this morning of things to anticipate as a head football coach, the calls and decisions that I'm going to have to make," Lunney said Wednesday. "We were kind of going through that. Turner has kind of, not guided me through that, but certainly has given me some things to think about before I get into that game. At the end of the day, you have to make decisions based on gut, based on preparation and not on emotions and that's how I'm approaching this game."

On Jefferson

The Razorbacks could start their fourth quarterback of the season and seventh in the last 21 games if true freshman KJ Jefferson goes out with the first unit Saturday.

Interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. was asked about Jefferson's leadership ability Wednesday.

"I think about everything you need to know in that regard showed up when he took the field against Mississippi State, and when he had the ball in his hands and just how the team reacted to him," Lunney said. "I think that spoke volumes."

Harris near home

Arkansas senior linebacker De'Jon Harris will be playing about an hour from his hometown of New Orleans on Saturday.

Interim Coach Barry Lunney Jr. said he saw an increased focuse from Harris this week.

"He's one of the guys I reached out to during this just to kind of get a pulse," Lunney said. "He's on our leadership committee and that was the first thing he said that he was actually embracing the fact that the game was at night and was hoping to experience that."

No. 1 Tigers

Arkansas has faced LSU twice when the Tigers were ranked No. 1. The most memorable of those games wound up in a 50-48 triple overtime win for the Razorbacks on Nov. 23, 2007, the final game at Arkansas for Coach Houston Nutt. Former Arkansas All-American and two-time Doak Walker Award winner Darren McFadden crashed an interview between Nutt and CBS' Tracy Woolfson shouting "I got that wood right here," and he also corrected then-LSU Coach Les Miles' mispronunciation of "Arkansas."

No. 1 LSU downed the No. 3 Razorbacks 41-17 on Nov. 25, 2011, the last time Arkansas faced the No. 1 Tigers.

First and last

The Razorbacks will be the first and last team to play the No. 1 ranked team in the College Football Playoff poll after Saturday's game.

After the first-ever College Football Playoff rankings were released on Oct. 28, 2014, Arkansas was the first team to face No. 1 when they lost 17-10 at Mississippi State on Nov. 1.

LSU has been No. 1 in the CFP rankings the last two weeks.

Common foes

The Razorbacks and Tigers have four common opponents this season: Alabama, Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

LSU is 4-0 against those teams, while Arkansas is 0-4.

The aggregate scoring advantage for LSU in those games is 163-111, an average score of 40.8 to 27.8.

Arkansas' combined scoring against those teams is 184-58, for an average losing score of 46 to 14.5.

Burrow notes

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow has completed 20 passes or more in a school-record 13 consecutive games.

Burrow, with 3,687 passing yards this season, has already surpassed the previous school record of 3,347 yards held by Rohan Davey (2001).

Burrow's six touchdown passes in the Tigers' 66-38 win at Vanderbilt was a school record. Those 66 points were the most in regulation in an SEC game for LSU.

Burrow, a senior, has 6,582 passing yard to rank fourth on LSU's all-time chart in just two seasons. Burrow needs 44 yards to surpass JaMarcus Russell (6,582) for third and 340 yards to eclipse Jeff Wickersham (6,921) for second. Tommy Hodson's school record of 9,115 yards looks safe for now.

Sports on 11/22/2019

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